Forget the Class of 92, Lee Ashforth’s Football’s Toughest Jobs would illustrate the harsh and true realities of Non League Football.
Watch the Class of 92 and you see Graham Alexander enjoying the riches of Salford City and able to buy a new player every week.
The television cameras have captured every second of Salford’s progress since Gary Neville and co arrived on the scene in 2014 and instigated their rise from the NPL First Division to the Football League. Only watching one episode of many is enough to understand that money is no object.
Whilst Salford have rocketed up the pyramid, new Campion joint manager Ashforth has been a Non League firefighter having managed three clubs with financial constraints.
The cameras rolling on him over the last four years since his first managerial appointment at Harrogate Railway would have made more compelling viewing.
Ashforth is just another Non League manager who has not got the praise he deserves and endured stressful times for limited reward.
His spells in charge of Railway, Ossett Town and Clitheroe may appear to have been failures on paper, but then that depends on how you define success in those roles.
The exit from Clitheroe in May left a bitter taste and he was ready to bin his tactics board.
That was until long-term friend James Bicknell proposed dropping down to Toolstation NCEL Division One with Campion.
“I was very down after Clitheroe and I openly said to friends and family that I had finished with management and I was going to seek ventures new,” Ashforth tells Non League Yorkshire.
“James rang me four or five times and I went met him and he sold the dreams and ambitions of the club to me.
“I said to James that I’d lost interest in managing. I’d spent seasons trying to rebuild teams with low budgets. It is so difficult because you’re ringing the same people, the same managers, the same players, asking them for favours.
“Working as a joint manager is something I wanted to do because if you look at the pressures I’ve had at the clubs I’ve been at in the last few years, the pressures have been really high.
“All three have been hard clubs to manage. Clitheroe was the best, in terms of the ambition side of it. If I had been given time there I would have done a good job.
“I felt we had done a good job and we ticked all the boxes. When I took over last year they were bottom of the league and the budget was too high. I sorted that out and then they decided to let me go at the end of the season.
“With Ossett Town there were times when we were lucky to get a team on the pitch. This was also a club merging to create a new club at the end of that season. With Harrogate Railway we had to rebuild the team from almost scratch.
“The last few years have more stressful than they should be and not as enjoyable. I wanted to be somewhere where I could enjoy it again.”
One surprising aspect is that Ashforth claims to have slept like a baby on a night-time for the past four years.
He credits his former Harrogate chairman Rob Northfield for that. Northfield is of course the founder of 2 Inspire and is famed for his motivational speaking.
“Ever since I was charge of Harrogate Railway I have slept without problems and that’s down to Rob Northfield,” he said.
“I class him as a mentor and I still ring him now and then and see him for a coffee now and then.
“He was massively into that you don’t function if you’re not sleeping and worrying about games. He said once a game has gone you can’t change anything.
“He taught me all that. Even though I’ve had what you would call challenging manager jobs, I don’t struggle to sleep. Even at Clitheroe I didn’t struggle.
“Once you start losing sleep over it, that’s the time to pack in. That’s what Rob Northfield always told me.”
Billy Miller is also hailed as a mentor. Ashforth, a goalkeeper, served Railway as a player during the successful period under Martin Haresign. He returned to Station View with Miller as assistant manager in 2012.
The pair arrived together from Liversedge and they worked wonders with Harrogate over three years – culminating in securing the club’s highest ever league finish.
The partnership was a marriage made in heaven, but their achievements attracted attention and Miller was lured to ambitious Tadcaster Albion in 2015.
The chance to follow as his assistant was there. Instead, encouraged by Miller, he chose to fly solo and assumed his first post in management with Harrogate.
Any regrets over not going to Tadcaster who Miller would lead to the NCEL Premier Division title in his first season?
“The amount of stuff I learnt off Billy was unbelievable,” he says.
“He was the most complete manager I have worked for. His man-management skills were unbelievable.
“The way he handled the budget, handled committees, his tactics, he had everything.
“That’s why I worked with him so long. He went to Tadcaster and I remember the conversation when Harrogate offered me the job, he said: ‘go have a go at it’.
“It was the right time. I don’t regret not going with him to Tadcaster. Me and Billy had done our time together at that point. I had to go on my own.
“Yeah, you do look at what Tadcaster did under Billy by winning the league and getting into the NPL.
“Billy had a year in the NPL, but I know he doesn’t miss football at all and won’t come back into it. He tells me often enough to pack it all in and always questions what I’m doing with my time.
“I don’t think you can ever regret anything in life. You make your decisions and deal with them. You learn from what you do.”
Railway have never recovered from the break-up of the Miller/Ashforth partnership. In Ashforth’s only full season in charge, Railway were relegated from the NPL – the task of rebuilding the whole squad had been too much.
He resigned in September 2016 – tearfully leaving Station View after years of service. Five permanent managers – Paul Beesley, Liam Gray, Marlon Brown, Brian Davey and Craig Ogilvie – have tried and failed to revive the club.
A further relegation came last season, but hopes are high that Des Macorison is the man to lift them out of the doldrums.
“Harrogate Railway will always be my club,” he says.
“I spent three or four years there as a player and then seven years as either manager or assistant manager.
“If anyone says where did you enjoy your football the most, I always say Harrogate Railway. It is great to go back and see people like (secretary) Dave Shepherd. They are great for that club.
“I spent a lot of good years and I was disappointed to go, but at the time it was time to leave. Certainly working with Rob Northfield and Nigel Corner, I worked with some great people.
“I love Harrogate Railway and I really want them to do well and I would love to see them climb back up through the Divisions.”
Campion have already played Harrogate this season, on the opening day. A last-minute equaliser from Andy McCreadie rescued a point for Campion, denying Macorison the dream start.
Campion have since faced City of Liverpool in the FA Cup, drawn with Brigg Town and lost at Nostell Miners Welfare in the league.
It has been a tough beginning results-wise for Ashforth at a new level of football.
“I have found it challenging,” he adds.
“The commitment levels are not as high as they are in the BetVictor. The lads get less expenses so work comes first as does families. You have to understand that.
“That’s the main difference I have seen. That’s not a criticism, it is just the level of football we’re at.
“But I’m enjoying it and as long as I’m enjoying I won’t go anywhere.”